I needed one more lap for win - Rosberg

Nico Rosberg believes he fell short of victory in Spain by one lap after watching team-mate Lewis Hamilton claim his fourth win on the bounce.

Rosberg made a real fight of it in the final stint, using the quicker tyre to chip away at Hamilton's lead, though 0.6s was as close as he would ultimately come. With Hamilton clearly struggling behind the wheel of his Mercedes Rosberg may well have avenged what happened in Bahrain, where he also failed to find a way through, and he feels he was getting close enough to challenge when the chequered flag came out.

"I think one more [lap], to be honest," Rosberg said when asked how much more he needed to win. "One more and I could have given it a good go. I wasn't close enough to give it a go there but next lap I would have, but unfortunately that was it! I'm a bit gutted but second place means it is still close in the championship, and many more races to go yet.

Hamilton's win means Rosberg has conceded the lead in the drivers' championship for the first time this season and he admits he knows a fightback is needed in Monaco, which is unofficially his home race.

"Definitely, I will be going there to make it one better. My aim there is to come first there and repeat the win from last year."

If he is to do that, Rosberg knows he needs to work on his getaways off the line after seeing Hamilton hold his lead into Turn 1.

"The start was unfortunately poor," he said. "It is a bit of a weakness I have at the moment. Three bad starts in a row and that has cost me. It is not good and we need to work on that."